360 virtual tours have become a must-have in many industries, especially real estate. According to a 2025 Zillow report, 65% of U.S. home buyers wish more listings included 3D virtual tours.
But they’re useful far beyond real estate: architecture, interior design, tourism, construction progress tracking, building inspections, and even aerial drone photography. Whatever the use, the goal is to show, document, or explore a place without being there.
So how do you make a 360 virtual tour? And how do you make sure it actually feels immersive? This step-by-step guide shows you how to create a 360 virtual tour from start to finish.
In this guide
Before you create your 360 virtual tour
A virtual tour is built from several 360 photos, each one showing a specific space (a room in a home, for example). These photos, or scenes, are then connected by interactive points called hotspots so visitors can move from one to the next.
Where to start
✅ New to 360 photos? Read our beginner’s guide to 360 photography.
✅ Looking for the right 360 camera? Check out our comparison of the best 360 cameras.
✅ Already have your 360 photos? Jump straight to building your virtual tour.
How to make your first 360 virtual tour
Step 1: Upload your 360 photos
Virtual tours are a premium feature, but you can create an account in a few clicks and try it free for 10 days (no credit card required).
Once you’re logged in, go to your dashboard and upload your 360 photos with the Upload a new tour button (shown below).
Choose your files (the scenes you want in the tour), then select option 1 to put all the images in a single virtual tour.
This opens the interactive 360 editor, where you’ll build your tour.
Step 2: Organize your scenes
In the scene gallery on the left, you can:
✅ Drag and drop scenes to reorder them.
✅ Rename each scene so the tour is easier to navigate.
✅ Add more scenes if you need to.
Two ways to name your scenes
📌 Option 1: Rename your files before uploading them (e.g., Kitchen.jpg). We’ll pick up the names automatically.
📌 Option 2: Change the names right in the 360 editor after uploading.
🔹 Tip: Clear, logical names make for a better visitor experience.
You can also name the tour itself, right in the 360 editor.
Step 3: Set the initial view of each scene
Sometimes a 360 photo doesn’t open facing the right way. To fix that, set a new default viewing angle with the Initial view option at the top of the editor.
A panel opens on the left where you can fine-tune the initial view across all three rotation axes.
Step 4: Add navigation hotspots to your virtual tour
Hotspots are interactive links that let visitors move from one scene to another.
There are several ways to create a hotspot. The one we recommend is quick and easy, and starts from the scene gallery on the left: drag the destination scene onto the 360 viewer, then drop it where you want the hotspot to appear.
Alternatively, right-click the exact spot in the 360 viewer where you want the hotspot, then choose Create a Hotspot.
The hotspot appears on the image, and a gallery of your tour’s scenes opens at the bottom of the editor. Click the scene you want to link to.
You can edit hotspots after creating them: move them, rotate the arrow, change the linked scene, or delete them.
The gear icon also lets you customize the look of a hotspot (image, colors, animation) or even upload your own icons.
Step 5: Add information points (optional)
Infospots let you add extra information to your 360 virtual tours, such as details about a piece of equipment, a material, or a price.
To add one, right-click the image, then choose Create an Infospot.
As with hotspots, you can customize the infospot’s icon, colors, and more. You can also add a clickable external link to each infospot.
Step 6: Add your logo to the tour (optional)
Add your logo to your virtual tour so visitors recognize your brand right away.
1️⃣ Click Logo in the toolbar.
2️⃣ Add your logo with the + button, then select it. It appears in the top-left corner of the tour.
You can also change the link that opens when someone clicks your logo: hover over the logo in the tour to find this option.
Step 7: Add a floor plan (optional)
The virtual tour at the top of this guide includes a floor plan you can use to move from room to room. We recommend adding a floor plan to your 360 virtual tour: it helps visitors get their bearings.
Don’t have a floor plan yet? No problem: free software lets you quickly draw a floor plan. For example, we drew the one below in Lucidchart.
Once your floor plan is ready (PNG, JPEG, or WebP), click the Upload a floor plan button on the left side of the editor and choose your file. The image is added to your tour as a floor plan.
Visitors can now open the floor plan in one click, from any room.
To make navigating from the floor plan even easier, you can add hotspots to it too: drag scenes from the gallery onto the right spots on the floor plan.
That’s what the floor plan icon in the viewer is for: your visitors can jump between any room and the floor plan in one click.
Step 8: Add details with Tour info (optional)
Tour info lets you add all the useful details to your virtual tour: a description of the place, a photo gallery, contact details, PDF documents, videos, and even call-to-action buttons. Visitors can access everything without leaving the tour.
1️⃣ Open Tour info from the toolbar.
2️⃣ Add the information you want to show: text, photos, a logo, contact details, or a PDF.
3️⃣ Arrange the items, then click Publish info to add them to your tour.
Once published, an info button appears in the top-right corner of the tour, where visitors can find all this information.
Step 9: Improve your photos with Color Studio (optional)
Color Studio improves the color, brightness, and sharpness of your 360 photos, right in the editor.
1️⃣ In the toolbar, click Color Studio.
2️⃣ When the panel opens, turn on Smart Enhance.
Smart Enhance uses AI to improve your images automatically. The result usually looks right as is, but you can adjust the strength of the enhancement or fine-tune the settings by hand.
Step 10: Increase the resolution of your 360 scenes (optional)
Super-resolution also uses AI to double the resolution of your 360 photos, sharpen them, and bring out more detail. To learn how it works, read our guide How to increase the resolution of a 360 photo.
To turn it on:
1️⃣ Hover over the lightning bolt icon in the top-right corner, then turn on the switch in the tooltip.
2️⃣ Let the image process. You can come back later.
3️⃣ Check the result and compare it with the original if needed.
Processing runs in the background, so you can keep working on your tour. When it’s done, click Compare with original to instantly compare your original image with the enhanced version.
Good to know: Super-resolution improves image quality, but it also increases file size and can slow down loading. Compare the result with the original to find the right balance between image quality and loading speed.
Step 11: Password-protect your virtual tour (optional)
Panoraven virtual tours aren’t public or indexed by search engines: only people with the direct link can open them. If your tour contains sensitive information, or you want an extra layer of security, you can protect it with a password.
1️⃣ Click the padlock icon in the top-right corner of the editor.
2️⃣ Enter a password, then click Save.
You can change, disable, or remove the password at any time.
Share your 360 virtual tour
Embed a virtual tour on a website
In the editor, click the code icon (see the image below) to copy the embed code. Then paste it straight into your HTML, wherever you want the virtual tour to appear.
For more details, see our article on embedding a 360 photo on a website. We also have one specifically about embedding on WordPress.
Share on Facebook, X, WhatsApp, text message, or email
Click the share icon to post your tour directly to Facebook, X, or LinkedIn. On mobile, you can also send it via WhatsApp or text message.
To share by email, click the envelope icon: your computer’s default email app should open a new message with the direct link to your 360 virtual tour already in it. Your recipient just has to click the link to open the tour.
Share with a direct link
If you’d rather share your 360 virtual tour from Gmail or another web-based email service, the easiest way is to copy the direct link and send it to your recipient. Click the direct link icon to copy it.
Share with a QR code
A QR code lets people open your virtual tour by scanning it with their phone. Add it to a poster, brochure, or business card so people can open your tour straight from print.
Click the QR code icon at the top of the editor. You can customize how it looks: add your logo, choose the dot style, and adjust the colors. Then click Copy to clipboard or Download as png to use it wherever you need it.
Anyone who scans it lands straight on your virtual tour.
Your first virtual tour is ready!
Congratulations, your tour is ready for its first visitors! Here’s a final checklist to make the most of it:
- Pick a viewing angle that shows off each scene.
- Make sure your navigation points let visitors move easily between spaces.
- Personalize your tour with your logo and the information your visitors need.
- Walk through your tour on a phone to see how it looks on mobile.
- Choose the sharing option that fits your channels: direct link, embed on your site, or QR code.
Now all that’s left is to share it!
